Kingston, Ulster police departments to hold summit Jan. 30 (video)

KINGSTON, N.Y. -- In a show of public partnership, the city of Kingston and town of Ulster will co-host a Public Safety Summit at City Hall on Jan. 30.

Kingston Police Chief Egidio Tinti and town of Ulster Police Chief Anthony Cruise said the event is being held, in part, to explain how the two agencies, as well as others, work together.

"Every agency takes a role in making the community safe," Tinti said this week. "I think that, over the past five to 10 years, we have all made strides in working together, and this (the summit) is a way to show that to the community."

The summit also is designed to draw input from the community and let the public know about efforts to solicit their help in fighting crime, the two chiefs said.

Tinti and Cruise said they came up with the summit idea during a police training session they attended in November.

The Public Safety Summit is to be held at 7 p.m. Jan. 30 in the Common Council Chamber at City Hall. The Freeman will livestream the event on its website, www.dailyfreeman.com.

Since taking the helm of the Kingston Police Department in November 2011, Tinti has instituted a "community policing" philosophy among his officers. The summit, he said, is an extension of that ideal with a focus on the shared crime-related concerns of the two municipalities.

Cruise, who was appointed Ulster police chief in October 2012, said one purpose of the summit is to generate public interest in helping police.

Also, "we want the community to know that we are working together," Cruise said. "We want the community to understand that."

Tinti said he also will highlight some of his department's initiatives, including crime mapping, the use of technology in fighting crime, intelligence gathering and the use of state funding for overtime operations, among others.

"We want to show what we have done over the last year and what we plan to do over the coming year," Tinti said.

In Kingston, reports of serious crime were 2.75 percent lower in 2011 than in 2010, according to statistics provided by the city police department. Full 2012 statistics are to be released in February; data for the first six months of last year showed a 7.8 percent jump in serious crime but a drop in violent crime.

The city police department said it received 673 reports of serious crime in 2011, compared to 692 in 2010.